Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle body front structure.
Description of the Related Art
In a vehicle such as a passenger car, a front bumper beam extending in the vehicle width direction is located at the front end of a vehicle body. Left and right bumper beam extensions extending to the rear side are provided at two ends of the front bumper beam in the longitudinal direction. The rear ends of the left and right bumper beam extensions are detachably connected to the front ends of left and right front side frames.
In recent years, a technique of absorbing collision energy when a narrow offset collision occurs in the front part of a vehicle body has been developed. This technique is known from, for example, Japanese Patent No. 5537583.
In a known vehicle body front structure disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5537583, left and right gussets project outward in the vehicle width direction from the front ends of left and right front side frames. Each of the left and right gussets is formed in a triangular shape in a planar view, in which among the three sides, the first side is joined to the outer surface of the corresponding front side frame in the vehicle width direction and the second side faces the front side of the vehicle body.
When a narrow offset collision occurs in the front part of a vehicle body, especially, when a collision occurs at a position outside the left and right front side frames in the vehicle width direction, the gusset can receive a collision load. The collision load is transferred from the gusset to the front side frame. The gusset and front side frame can absorb collision energy.
Since, however, the left and right gussets are provided at the front ends of the left and right front side frames, there is room for improvement from the viewpoint of suppressing the weight of the vehicle body and reducing the cost of the vehicle body.
The present invention provides a technique capable of absorbing the collision energy of a narrow offset collision while suppressing the weight of a vehicle body and reducing the cost of the vehicle body.